CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS (July 31, 2020) – More than 1,500 AEP Texas, mutual assistance and contract personnel traveled to the Rio Grande Valley to restore electric service to customers who lost power after Hurricane Hanna, a Category 1 storm, made landfall along the Texas coastline last Saturday. Heavy, continuous rains across the entire RGV region caused flooding, structural damage, extensive forestry issues, and left approximately 152,400 RGV customers without power.
By truck, foot and drones, damage assessors overcame road closures, standing water and hazardous conditions in order to patrol power lines and electrical facilities. Below are some of the impacts to the distribution and transmission system across the RGV:
Overall, the damage brought about by Hurricane Hanna in the RGV accounts for more than 50% of the impact across the company’s three districts: Corpus Christi, Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley.
Jeff Stracener, AEP Texas vice president of Distribution Region Operations, said he is proud of the achievement all employees accomplished during the storm. “I’m extremely proud of all our employees, both frontline and support personnel, who helped us restore power to our customers ahead of schedule,” said Stracener. “They all overcame difficult challenges and this certainly includes the hundreds of resources and business partners who came from other utilities to help us in our time of need. We are very grateful.”
Stracener stressed that crews will continue to work to restore power to all customers who can receive it.
Customers who are still without power should call the AEP Texas Customer Solutions Center at (877) 373-4858 to determine if their home or facility is able to receive power, or to learn if repairs are required before electric service can be reconnected. Customers can monitor their outage status by logging on to www.texas.com, registering for mobile alerts or by downloading the free AEP Texas App.